The 5th Joint Meeting of the African Centres of Excellence (ACE- Impact) National Project Performance Review Committee (NPPRC) and Sustainable Procurement, Environmental and Social Standards Enhancement (SPESSE) Project Performance Review Committee (PPRC), took place virtually on Tuesday, 18 March 2025, to appraise the level of the programme implementation.
Welcoming participants to the biannual meeting, the Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Abdullahi Yusufu Ribadu, FCVSN, said the online forum was meant to assess the performance on two projects which are of top priority namely: the Second Africa Higher Education Centres of Excellence for Development Impact (ACE Impact) Project and the Sustainable Procurement, Environmental and Social Standards Enhancement (SPESSE) Project. He reminded the stakeholders that the review meeting was the last for the ACE Impact, considering that the project closure is in a few months, noting that though new to the project family, he was aware of the challenges in the 10 years course of the project implementation.
Professor Ribadu commended the resilience and commitment of all the critical stakeholders, which, he alluded were responsible for the many successes recorded on ACE Impact and, indeed, SPESSE. He advised that as the ACE Impact project closure approaches, everyone concerned must intensify efforts to sustain the innovations under the project beyond the expiration of funds from the Bank. According to him, these innovations include international programme and institutional accreditation, international student enrollment and foreign faculty engagement, among others, while the ACEs need to intensify efforts at forging and sustaining strategic partnerships within and outside the region for better sustainability.
The Excutive Secretary recalled that last year, the NUC and the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) signed a memorandum of understanding with the High Council for Evaluation of Research and Higher Education (Hcéres) for the accreditation of programmes of the ACE Impact and TETFund Centres of Excellence. He said the intention was to leverage on the collaboration and explore the possibility of TETFund supporting the ACEs after project closure, but, however, urged the Centres to continue to leverage their networks to source potential donors both within and outside the region.
He recounted that NUC took the initiative to write to all Vice-Chancellors of ACE Impact host institutions, stating that no alterations should be made to the existing project team even as conversations are ongoing for a successor project for ACE Impact. While noting that there is certainty that it will be a higher education project, it is unclear if the project will be a continuation of ACE, he said in order not to hamper the ACEs’ chances at competing in the new project, the project team, once again, reiterated that the existing project composition and structure should be maintained until there is more clarity on the matter.
On SPESSE, Professor Ribadu highlighted that despite several commencement delays and implementation challenges, as of February 2025, the project had achieved a disbursement rate of USD 60.6 million out of the current project portfolio of USD 76 million. This includes funds disbursed as Project Preparatory Advance (PPA), Technical Assistance (TA) and the Centres’ earnings from meeting the Performance-Based Contracts (PBCs).
He also recounted that few weeks ago, a delegation from the World Bank, led by the SPESSE Task Team Lead, Mr Ishtiak Siddique visited him during which discussions centred around scaling up the SPESSE Project and additional financing. He informed the participnats that these discussions were only possible because SPESSE had been given an overall ‘satisfactory’ rating by the World Bank and commended the efforts of the entire SPESSE team on the achievement. Despite the achievements, he lamented that on some other indices such as Financial Management and Procurement matters, the project is still being rated moderately satisfactorily . He told the participants that the virtual meeting will be used to identify the underlying challenges and ensure that the ratings on these two critical components are upgraded to ensure that conversations regarding additional financing for the project continue unhindered.
The Executive Secretary also noted that the funds to scale up SPESSE will be drawn from cancelled funds from other projects which will not expend their funds before the end of the IDA cycle in June 2025, while the World Bank has also assured it will not affect the project’s chances of securing more funds or a new project in the new IDA cycle. He acknowledged that this was made possible by the results achieved so far and the potential SPESSE has shown, stating that the Project team remained committed to sustaining these achievements and urged all stakeholders not to relent in their commitment to its success.
According to him, once the portal is successfully deployed, the implementing agencies can begin to earn their Disbursement-Linked Indicators (DLIs). He further stated that last week, the Independent Third-Party Verifier (ITPV), Binomial Optimus Limited, in collaboration with the NUC-PIU concluded the verification exercise for all six SPESSCEs for results submitted for July to December 2024. He informed participants that the verification for NUC and the Implementing Agencies (IAs) will be conducted in due course, highlighting that once all necessary processes are successfully completed, the SPESSCEs, NUC and IAs will qualify for another round of earnings.
He recalled that plans were made and suspended for various activities due to the changes in the Ministers of Education, which included the high-level visits to the ACE Impact and SPESSE Centres of Excellence and the ACE@10 celebrations, but noted that discussions have recommenced regarding both activities and that dates will be communicated to all stakeholders once a decision has been made. He also stated that the project team will hold a round table with the Association of African Universities (AAU) on the ACE Impact Project during which the project status and key next steps for Nigeria will be discussed.
He used the forum to thank the Ministries of Education, Finance, Women Affairs, Environment, as well as the World Bank and the French Development Agency (AFD) for their support in making the two projects a success. He also commended the project teams in the various institutions and the Implementing Agencies for their resilience and commitment as well as the pivotal role of the NUC-PIU in ensuring the achievement of project objectives.
The meeting also reviewed the progress made so far by the Six centres of Excellence, with each centre leaders addressing their various partnerships with some private organizations, Public and government agencies, universities both in Nigeria and outside Nigeria, Non Governmental Agencies and other firms.
The Stakeholders that participated at the meeting included; Vice Chancellors, ACE Impact Task Team Leaders, SPESSE Task Team Leaders, representative of the French Development Agency (AFD), Director-General Bureau of Public Procurement, Permanent Secretaries of the Federal Ministries of Environment and Women Affairs& Social Development, Centre Leaders and Deputy Centre leaders of the ACE Impact and SPESSE projects.